This invention relates to a track attached to the working face side of a face conveyor for a drum cutter mining machine and, more particularly, to such a track having individual sections pivotally interconnected by couplings on an upright limb of each track section defined by a L-shaped cross section and forming a horizontal or lateral limb pointing toward the working face of a mine and bearing on the mine floor.
Machine tracks of this same general type are known in the art. The known track is made of individual angle iron sections that are welded together to form a box-shaped angle section. At the end of each track section there is a recess in the vertical limb of the track section wherein parts for the coupling are attached by welding. The parts for the coupling include a projection extending toward the working face of the mine. A chain link is used to form the actual coupling means that pivotally interconnects two projections at two adjacent ends of the track sections. The chain link is fitted onto the immediately adjacent projections to enclose them and held in place on the projections by connecting members that are releasably secured to the track.
After a mining run during which a drum cutter mining machine is moved along the mine face so that the cutter drums release material from the mine face, the mining equipment is advanced toward the receding mine face. When the drum cutter mining machine is moved from the part of the face conveyor which has not as yet been advanced to the part of the face conveyor which has already been advanced, the mining machine must pass through a conveyor section that is bent in the form of an "S". In this bent section of the conveyor, particularly if the conveyor trough sections are bent at a considerable angle, the runners of the mining machine at the working face side inevitably collide at various occasions with the trough connection parts that project into the machine track. If such collisions occur repeatedly at frequent intervals, the connecting members are damaged as a result of the collisions. The machine runners and machine track are also damaged. Moreover, to obtain the track profile in a welded structure with the necessary strength, a profiled sheet is extended over the height of the track on the working face side and disposed to slope downwardly at the bottom so that the bottom longitudinal edge projects in the plane of the track toward the working face. This construction causes the runners of the mining machine to climb the inclined surface of the machine track. In addition, openings are provided in the top edge of the metal to receive attachment bolts which weaken the metal and reduce the stiffness of the track.